When Lisa suggested they go for a walk today, Margaret understood what it meant. The brochures for San and Pine’s retirement community had been on her coffee table for weeks. Lisa had been kind, but persistent in her need to take the next step.

They drove in silence for a while, leaving the familiar part of town behind.

Margaret watched the landscape change from the neighborhood streets to the main road leading out of town.

A lump formed in her throat as they drove past the library, where she had volunteered for 20 years, and then past the park, where she had pushed Lisa on the swings as a child. “Remember how you used to beg me to push you higher on those swings?” Margaret said, her voice slightly shaking.